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Crew Turns To Bedell, Schoenfeld

By: Adam Jardy

The Columbus Dispatch - July 16, 2014 09:48 AM

When the 2014 Crew season began, Aaron Schoenfeld and Adam Bedell were facing long odds to see
significant playing time at forward.

Today, as the Crew prepares to host Sporting Kansas City, Schoenfeld and Bedell find themselves
the last men standing. After Jairo Arrieta suffered a hamstring injury Saturday that coach Gregg
Berhalter should sideline him for 3-4 weeks, the duo constitutes the lone remaining true forwards
available on the Crew’s roster.

So while Arrieta heals and the Crew continues its search for new attacking players to add during
the summer transfer window, both Schoenfeld and Bedell know this is essentially an audition period
for them.

“We’re thin,” Berhalter said. “Last week it was the back line, now it’s the front line. We’re
thin. It’s just something you deal with. Teams deal with this on a regular basis and we’ve got to
get through. We’ll get (Arrieta) back. Adam came in and got a goal, Schoenfeld’s been scoring in
the USL so hopefully one of those can do the job.”

When Arrieta went down with the hamstring injury, Bedell relieved him and contributed his first
career goal in the Crew’s 4-1 loss to New York. A third-round pick, Bedell has seen action in eight
games this year as a reserve.

“Obviously it was good to get that first one off my chest and get rolling here,” he said. “These
next few weeks are going to be big for us and big for me so I’m ready to step in when my name is
called. Forwards, you usually score in bunches. At least, I do, so one could turn into three or
four here hopefully in the next week or two.”

Bedell said his nonchalant celebration for his first professional goal was largely because he
had to just make sure the ball actually went in the net. The 6-foot-7 forward became the tallest
player in MLS history to score a goal, and Berhalter has praised his progress in practice.

“He’s been working hard every day,” Berhalter said. “He’s out here every day doing finishing.
That goes a long way. You see when he took the chance he didn’t hesitate. Good placement, good
power and a good goal.”

For the final 20 minutes of the game, he was paired alongside the 6-foot-4 Schoenfeld, who spent
the first half of the season on loan to the Crew’s USL Pro affiliate in Dayton. While with the
Dutch Lions, Schoenfeld scored 12 goals before being called up last week.

His action against the Red Bulls was Schoenfeld’s first of the season.

“It was nice,” Schoenfeld said of making his return. “Obviously MLS is faster than USL. It took
a second or two to get adjusted and after that it was fine. They had some big boys back there like
Olave and it was fun to bang up against them. It was a cool experience. Glad to be back and
hopefully I’ll see some minutes.”

Bedell saw nearly as many minutes Saturday as he had all season. Monday, he said his legs felt a
little heavy but that he would be fine by Wednesday.

“You go from being a substitute, being in and out of the 18, to you might get called for a
start,” he said. “You have to be mentally prepared – not that you’re not when you’re a substitute,
but the mentality changes a little bit and you’ve got to be ready to go for 90. You’ve got to take
care of your body so you’re physically ready as well as mentally.”

Added Schoenfeld, “Obviously your first instinct is you’re gutted for a guy that gets hurt. It’s
never fun to rehab for however long you’re out. Obviously sitting there we knew that one of us was
going to have to go in and that changes things. You go from sitting and spectating to warming up in
two minutes and having to play at the MLS level against one of the best teams. Obviously it changes
a lot real fast for you.”

In two seasons, Schoenfeld had one goal and two assists in 19 appearances including six starts
prior to Saturday’s game. Neither player has much of a proven MLS track record. Justin Meram and
Ethan Finlay, both of whom have primarily been midfielders during their MLS careers, are also
options to help at forward, Berhalter said Monday.

In addition, Berhalter said yesterday that the Crew is "going to try something different"
regarding the lineup but did not provide further details.

Asked if he felt this was a new audition, Schoenfeld said, “I guess you could say that. For me,
I’m just going to play how I think I should play and that’s to help the team. If that’s tracking
back a couple of extra times to help out, that’s fine with me. I’m going to go out there and work
as hard as I can and do anything to help the team win the game.”

Schoenfeld said the likelihood of more playing time does not change his day-to-day approach of
either player.

“We’re professionals and someone’s going to have to step up and take the place at forward,” he
said. “I think if either one of us is called upon, we’ll be ready. Adam had his first career goal
last week and played well and played a bunch of minutes.”

Added Bedell, “The responsibility will shift for whoever is up there starting. You’ve just got
to be ready to produce and that’s what I’m looking to do.”